Page:The Swedenborg Library Vol 1.djvu/212

 of Genesis by the new creation of heaven and earth, and by paradise; its end, by the eating of the tree of knowledge, and the subsequent particulars; and its last judgment by the flood; the whole by mere correspondences, according to the style of the Word; in the internal or spiritual sense of which, by the creation of heaven and earth, the institution of a new church is meant; by the paradise in Eden, its celestial wisdom; by the tree of knowledge and by the serpent, the scientific [or sensual principle] which destroyed it; and by the flood, the last judgment upon the men of whom it consisted.

But the other church which was after the flood, is also described in certain passages in the Word, as in Deut. xxxii. 7 to 14, and elsewhere. This church was extended through much of the Asiatic world, and was continued among the posterity of Jacob. Its end was when the Lord came into the world. A last judgment was then executed by Him upon all who belonged to that church from its first institution; and at the same time upon the residue of the first church. The Lord came into the world for this end, to reduce all things in the heavens to order, and all things in the countries of the earth by means of the heavens, and at the same time to make his Humanity Divine; for if this had not been done, no man could have been saved. ..

The third church on this earth is the Christian. Upon this church, and at the same time upon all